Study of the morphological relationship existent in the Canary Island honeybee (Apis mellifera L.)

Abstract

he genetic origin of the honey bees (Apis mellifera) that lives in the Canary Island is ignored. It has been speculated with the possibility that the Guanches, first island inhabitant with African origin, brought with them native bees from the continent. It is known that the first Spanish colonist transport beehives from the Iberian Peninsula, and the quality of the canary honey allowed that in the XVI century it was exported in big quantities toward Europe. This paper evaluates morphological traits in samples of honeybee workers coming from apiaries located in five islands of the archipelago. A total of 27 morphological variables was taken of each insect. The discriminant analyses carried out, using as classificatory variable the beehive of origin of the work bees, indicate that significant differences exist among the groups. Four morphological groups were identified. One of them includes the bees coming from Gran Canaria and Hierro, between this group and the one formed by the workers coming from La Gomera is located the one from Tenerife, and the one from La Palma forms an independent group. The possible relationship of these bees was estimated with another discriminant analysis that included data coming from samples of the south of Spain (A. mellifera iberica) and north of Africa (A. mellifera intermissa).